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My family will be on the Glory for the Eastern Caribbean Thanksgiving Cruise this year. There are 7 of us (5 boys ranging from 11 to 20). Can anyone recommend some excersions (both with carnival and without) and some cool beaches to visit. We will be visiting Nassau, St. Thomas, San Juan and Grand Turk. I've looked at the Carnival excursions and for 7 of us it can get kind of expensive.

My family will be on the Glory for the Eastern Caribbean Thanksgiving Cruise this year. There are 7 of us (5 boys ranging from 11 to 20). Can anyone recommend some excersions (both with carnival and without) and some cool beaches to visit. We will be visiting Nassau, St. Thomas, San Juan and Grand Turk. I've looked at the Carnival excursions and for 7 of us it can get kind of expensive.

Thanks

Grand Turk you do not need excursion as there is a nice beach right where you dock and a Margarittaville with real nice pool.

we are going on that exact cruise this sunday! We are taking our 3 kids- 6, 12, and 14. I will try to remember to come back to this thread and let you know all about it...
This is what we plan to do- Half Moon Cay (you maybe said nassau, so may be different), but this is the private island w/ carnival hosting a BBQ or buffet on the beach. I heard there is good snorkeling all the way down the beach...
St. Thomas we booked a catamaran snorkeling excursion through st thomas excursions (they make reservations for all the ports) - it sounds great.
Grand Turk is one of the BEST diving spots in the world. We are just going to get off the ship and walk a few blocks down the beach to a place called Jack's Shack- sounds like a nice little restaurant on the beach with chairs available and it sounds like they have great jerk chicken...
San Juan- we are just walking to the old fort and walking through the town.
I will try to post a short review when we get back-

My family will be on the Glory for the Eastern Caribbean Thanksgiving Cruise this year. There are 7 of us (5 boys ranging from 11 to 20). Can anyone recommend some excersions (both with carnival and without) and some cool beaches to visit. We will be visiting Nassau, St. Thomas, San Juan and Grand Turk. I've looked at the Carnival excursions and for 7 of us it can get kind of expensive.

Thanks

I can certainly appreciate how expensive excursions can get, I have four children and it gets pricey when we travel with them. I would suggest an island tour with Godfrey or Sonny Liston in St Thomas. For $25 each you get shopping, a tour and some beach time. It is a really great value. In Nassau you can take a free walking tour. If you go to the Nassau board and search for "walking tour" I'm sure you will find it. It is kind of fun to see if you can guide your way around the city yourself. In San Juan we went to the fort. I think it was around $4 pp. You can easily kill an hour and half there and the views from the fort are amazing. From there you could walk into old San Juan to do some shopping. I would spend my tour money in Grand Turk. The snorkling is pretty good. We did the Carnival ultimate snorkle with two stops. Met a friendly baracuda. There is also a reefs and rays excursion that looks interesting as well. Jack's shack just down the beach from Margaritaville is a great place to hang out and he is right on the beach.

I agree with the idea of Megan's Bay in St. Thomas. There are LOTS of cabs on the pier that will take you there. There is a small gate fee. When you are ready to leave, there are a LOT of taxis to take you back to the ship. Megan's Bay is rated as one of the most beautiful beaches in the world. (or so I have heard)

San Juan: take a taxi, (or the free trolley if you are lucky enough to catch it) up to El Morro. Tour the fort, and then walk your way back down the hill, through Old San Juan, to the pier area. OSJ is like walking in Europe with narrow, cobblestone streets, little plazas and statues in many places. You can get a copy of a map at the tourist plaza right to the left of the ships. If you want to, you can bring a kite to fly in the field by the fort. You will see lots of locals doing this.

__________________Michelle

"Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn't do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover."
Mark Twain

We used Henry @ EEE tours in St.Thomas and the kids loved him; he is a retired cop and knows so much about the island.

Grand Turk - we never made it beyond a CCL snorkeling excursion, as it was an unexpected port of call. We LOVED Grand Turk and look forward to going back. Next trip, I think we would either go into town, or, as you come off the pier - walk down the beach to your right. You will pass a million conch shells in all states from perfect to completely sea worn. If you keep walking, you will come to a flat, white sand point beach that looks fabulous.

San Juan - no tour needed. Walk to the fort and around the historic area. Beautiful.

Nassau - we really liked Blackbeards Caye for a swim with the sting rays. We have also taken the bus to the zoo. The boys were too tired to walk to the fort. Next trip, I am gonna save up and spend the money for Atlantis - if we are there for enough time to make it worth while.